War of Shadows
by RevDragon
Summary: The path to abandoning everything you believe in, a clandestine war fought in the Land of the Rising Sun. When that war threatens to engulf all of China, will Po and the Furious Five be able to stop it? On hiatus
1. Chapter One: Requirement

**A/N: First attempt at writing a long story, as well as my first time writing for Kung Fu Panda. But I'm excited for it, and I'm motivated so perhaps things will go well. Originally I was going to start with the heroes, but I think doing a villain scene first to set an overtone would be more fun. I suggest listening to "Six Shards of Eden" by The Luna Sequence, at least that's the mode I was in while writing this.**

**Note: Kung Fu Panda characters are in the next chapter if you wish to skip this one.  
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**Also Note: Some timelines may not be 100% accurate as far as Ancient China/ Feudal Japan goes, but I'm trying to make this work so bear with me.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Kung Fu Panda or any of its characters, they belong to DreamWorks. Any OC's, however are mine. Nor do I own the song, "Six Shards of Eden" it belongs to The Luna Sequence.**

**War of Shadows**

**Chapter one: Requirement**

"Time to move, Kyofu," a voice called out to a figure dressed entirely in black, sitting cross-legged on the forest floor, "We have a job to do."

"Yes, sir," Kyofu said, standing up quickly, and sheathing his katana, while he flexed momentarily to remove some stiffness from his legs.

It was nighttime in Japan, though the full moon gave enough light to see the other members of their group of twenty readying their weapons, and equipment, in the small forest clearing they had situated themselves in while waiting for the right time. Each was dressed in black tunic, pants, and wore a black mask to cover every part of their head except their eyes, indistinguishable except for their leader, who had a red headband, so they could tell who he was. All of them were some form of feline, a few golden cats, of which Kyofu was one, leopards, and others. The only difference between them was height, but that didn't matter, because tonight was a time they'd all have to work together to survive, each of them knew it, and none planned to fail; failure meant certain death, whether at the hands of the targeted victims, or at the hands of the headmaster, the latter was far worse than anything they could suffer here.

Their leader, Kasai, silently motioned for them to move out, and took off running through the forest floor. Kyofu followed quickly along with the others, they had a long run ahead of them; they had camped about two miles away from their target building: the shogun's castle. In order to safely observe it from a distance without being discovered, they had done espionage for about a week to note the usual rise and sleep times of the occupants of the fortress. Kyofu was ready for this; he had been given the task of taking the shogun's daughter, although somewhat to his disappointment, he preferred easier jobs like dealing with samurai warriors who guarded the place. Dealing with a hostage wasn't his idea of how he wanted to spend the night, but he knew it was important, and there was no way he would fail. Mentally he kept track of the distance until they reached their destination, being as agile as they were, it would not be long before they came upon the castle, the ones in their group had covered much longer distances than that, so it wasn't tiring for him as long as he made sure to keep a steady pace breathing, to make sure he didn't lose stamina. The moonlight made it easy to see things, but only where it shined through the tiny clearings in the forest.

Around ten minutes later, they came upon a small hill overlooking a valley where the castle stood with the east wall facing them. Thirty foot walls surrounded it, with a courtyard in the middle, and towers on each corner. Small fields of rice covered the valley, and the barracks appeared to be on the left side of the courtyard. Most of the guards were either asleep or inside the castle, with the exception of a few patrolling the walls with bows and arrows. Kasai held his hand up, and they all stopped, awaiting his command for them to go. "You all know what to do, so I will not explain the plan to you, but keep it quiet- no keep it silent, if we raise an alarm before Kyofu gets the girl, it will be difficult to explain to me why it happened with my sword down your throat, so focus, and let's go." He jumped and slid down the hill, before entering the rice field in the direction of the wall, while four others followed him. Five more went around the west side to deal with the guards in that area and four more were left with him to await an entrance to the castle. The other five remaining stood watch in case an alarm was raised. Kyofu waited patiently as he watched Kasai slink up to the wall hugging it tightly as the rest of his group readied their shuko spikes, and began to scale the wall once they were sure it was clear. Grappling hooks were too noisy, though they carried them occasionally, they were mainly used for when an alarm was raised and they needed to scale something fast, which hadn't happened yet.

Kasai and the others finally reached the top of the wall at the same time as the other group on the west side did, and began silently finishing the guards who were patrolling on the wall. He motioned for the other four to take care of the towers, while the west group did the same, and they did swiftly as he heard muffled sounds coming from either side of him. Once both groups had finished, he motioned to the west group to enter the barracks and silently raised his fist to signal Kyofu to go. Not hesitating, Kyofu's group hurried to the now opening gate at the front of the castle. The two rhinos who were watching a few minutes before were already downed, and Kasai only had the gate opened enough to where they could squeeze in and out. After entering the courtyard and opening the second door, that was actually the entrance inside the castle, Kyofu's group split up, they were to take care of the rest of the family which consisted of the shogun himself, his wife, and any samurai guards they encountered. Kyofu turned right to look down a long corridor and sighed, _sometimes I wish they'd just put a sign up so I'd know where to go, _he thought, butluckily for him, thanks to all the espionage they'd done he knew the daughters room was in one tiny section on the northeast area, right behind a small garden which one had to walk through to get to her room.

The castle itself was actually quite dark, save for the small torches that were on the walls about every 10 feet or so, but he was thankful for that, since he was trying to blend in after all. He silently, but quickly ran down it, hoping not to run into anyone along the way. No such luck there, he almost blew his cover as he turned a corner facing a guard's back, but was able to jump and grab on to the ceiling, concealing himself in the darkness just in time. Knowing he needed to distract the dumb oxen so he could continue on his way, he dug a small rock out of a section of the side wall and threw it in the opposite direction making sure he clanged it against the metal part of a dimly lit torch, in order to make enough noise. It worked, as the guard quickly turned and ran in that direction to investigate the noise. Once he was sure that the guard had gotten far enough away, judging by the receding heavy footsteps, he dropped down and continued on his way to the garden.

A couple of twists and turns later, he finally found the entrance, which looked more like the doorway to a dojo of some sort. Peering around the corner, he noticed that the garden was almost fully lit by the moon as it was an open roof; he did see various trees and plants growing, but also a sliding paper door, which he guessed to be the entrance to the daughter's room, but the site that bothered him was the huge rhino standing right in front with a menacing look on his face, and in full samurai armor. There was no way into that garden or the room without the guard being able to see him, and the huge axe he carried would also pose a problem. Silently he looked at his options: he could try taking him head on as fast as he could, but that would alert attention, since the guard would probably yell at the top of his lungs once he knew there was a threat to the girl. He could try a poison dart, but he doubted that the dose contained would be enough to significantly end the guy. It caused the throat to swell, and in smaller creatures they would be unable to breathe and would die from asphyxiation. But his neck was almost three times the size of his, and probably more than five times the size of a small goose or bunny. Of course he could always just run, and try to abandon the mission, but that thought was quickly regarded as suicidal and dismissed from his mind. That's when an idea came to him. He quickly loaded the dart into a small blow gun and leaned around the doorway to fire it at the rhino's throat. Once it connected the rhino instinctively grasped his throat with one hand, unable to make sound, and looked straight at the doorway, grasping his axe in one hand while desperately trying to relax the swelling in his throat with the other. Kyofu walked through and stood ten feet away from him. Realization then came to the rhino's eyes, as he glanced back toward the girl's room then at the figure dressed in black standing before him. Kyofu slowly removed his mask, so that the guard could get a clear look at his face in the moonlight, his dark green eyes stared resolutely, silently telling the guard that they would be the last thing he'd see in this life. He then pulled his mask back down over his face, unsheathed his katana, and stood in a defensive position waiting for the guard to charge.

Seconds later, the rhino complied and charged swinging his axe at Kyofu's head as he ducked underneath instinctively, and tried to come up behind him to end it early, but the rhino knowing this was the fight of his life, had anticipated his first move, so instead of swinging with full power he let the momentum turn him 180 degrees and he hit Kyofu in the side with the flat of the blade. The blow knocked him a few feet away, and he landed on some dirt, a small tree breaking his fall. He nearly lost his katana in the process, but immediately raised it up to block the downward strike that the rhino threw at him. The clang that it made was evident, and he risked a quick glance toward the door, inwardly he cringed, hoping that the rest of the people in the castle were sound sleepers. The momentary distraction was enough for the guard to able to land a brutal kick to the side, again sending him rolling on the floor, this time he did lose his sword. He stood up immediately, located it, and flipped over to where it landed a few feet away while the guard charged him again. He grabbed it in his hand and dodged another axe swing from the guard. _He's going to make minced meat of me if I don't do something soon; _he thought, then quickly formed an idea and blocked yet another heavy blow, with the sword. He feigned being thrown to the ground at counted the seconds it would take before rolling over where the axe hit the ground where his head had been moments ago. That was what he had been hoping for as the weapon became embedded in the ground, and the rhino tried to quickly pull it out, he used the opening to send a kick to the rhino's head, and then tossed black egg dust in his eyes, making him temporarily unaware of his surroundings, and having his vision blurred. Kyofu quickly regained his focus, on the fight and charged the rhino, who was now on the defensive. When he got close enough he easily ducked the wildly thrown punches, and took a shot at one leg with the sword; it connected and caused the rhino's eyes to go wide with pain, he then fell on one knee, and Kyofu delivered a powerful kick to it, rendering that one useless. The guard's vision now cleared as he saw him advancing slowly towards him, with sword in hand. Kyofu grimaced for a moment, and ended the fight with the final blow, to the guards head. Sheathing his now red sword as he walked through the garden, now almost completely destroyed because of the previous fight, he sighed, and continued towards the door, hoping that nothing else would get in his way for the rest of the night.

Cautiously he slid the door open, observing the room, and checking for any extra occupants, the girl appeared to still be sleeping as he noticed the shape on the bed. But as he pulled the covers away and saw only clothing and sheets, an immediate alarm went off in his head, as he turned and swung the sword in an upper rising block which cut a vase that was about to connect with his head cleanly in half. A short scuffle and a few muffled screams later, he had the girl pinned against her will, in a hold, with a dagger close to her throat, and his other paw covering her mouth. She whimpered slightly, as he forced her back out of the garden and into the corridor to the assigned meeting place. She appeared to be about sixteen years old, and she was a leopard cat. _No wonder I almost got knocked out back there, she must have been listening to the fight while it happened, _still annoyed that he failed to finish it quickly, he prodded her further along with his knee, until he reached the doorway, which led out to the courtyard.

Upon opening the door, the girl let out a gasp at the site which stood before her. Several of the castle guards were on the ground either unconscious or lifeless, and her parents stood in the middle with several figures dressed in black holding swords to their throats. When one wearing a red headband noticed them coming out, he turned and called out, "Kyofu, what took you so long?"

"I got held up," Kyofu replied as he shoved her toward him.

"We'll deal with that later," Kasai said, "In the meantime-"

"Keep your hands off my daughter!" the shogun yelled angrily.

"Quiet you! See if you like it when I do this!" Kasai punched the girl in the thigh, causing her knees to buckle, and she fell to the ground letting out a scream in the process.

"You sick-" the leopard tried to struggle, but the ninjas only held him and his wife tighter.

"Please, what do you want with us?" his wife asked.

"It's not what I want, it's what my master wants, and he already told you in a letter exactly what he required from you. You refused, and when people refuse an offer, he sends us to make another one," Kasai said coldly.

"I already told you, we're not in any shape to comply with that, especially now that half my men are either dead or incapacitated," the leopard replied.

"Well, if we can't convince you, then maybe we can give you some incentive," Kasai motioned, and two of his men immediately aimed arrows at his daughter. His wife gasped. "Agree to serve Lord Hakai, or the last thing you'll see is your daughter being killed before we kill you, and your wife."

The shogun growled, then hung his head, knowing there was nothing he could do to help the situation, "I… serve Lord Hakai, and no other. Now please, let Kanari go," he pleaded.

"Not so fast, we're taking your daughter and your wife, to a location far away from here, to make sure you don't get any bright ideas, if you do well, you may even be able to visit," Kasai gave a short laugh.

The leopard's mouth dropped open, and he reached over and grabbed his wife's hand who was being pulled away from him, and another one took his daughter and began to walk toward the castle gate as he watched, helpless. "I'll find a way to get you back, I promise," he said clenching his fists, tightly; "I love you," he called out to both, of them.

"I love you too, father," the leopardess finally was able to yell out before a paw covered her mouth again.

"Hey, we're going, we'll be back to give you instructions on what to do and what we want, expect us again soon." Kasai said, and turned and ran out of the gate, while the rest of the group followed with the shogun's daughter and wife, still struggling against the grip on their shoulders.

Kyofu turned silently, and looked at the leopard, who was on his knees with a look of shock on his face, and tears streaming down his face. "You're going pay for this, someday someone will stand up to him, and the payment will be his death, and all of yours!" the leopard punched the ground.

For some reason, Kyofu felt slightly worried about his comment, but he shrugged it off figuring it was only because he had to deal with taking the girl away from her parents, she was their only child after all. Unconcerned, he turned and ran back in the direction Kasai and the rest of the group went.

**A/N: Gah, well that felt rather… dark for me at least. By the way, Kyofu means "fear" in Japanese, Kasai means "fire" Kanari means "pretty", and Hakai means "destruction." **

**Thoughts, opinions? Review please, next chapters going to be posted soon, and it will have Po and the rest of the gang in it. And it will be more light-hearted.**


	2. Chapter Two: Stealth is for Lightweights

**A/N: Introducing, our favorite heroes: Po and the Furious Five! *cheers and applause* okay yeah that's lame I know. The first few chapters of them will primarily be plot builders for me. You know, before the plot thickens. I'll be mixing things up between them and our "villain". So I'll try not to make things boring, but I do have things mapped out as to when and how they get to Japan.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Kung Fu Panda or any of its characters, they belong to DreamWorks. Any OC's, however are mine.**

**Pairings: This is a Po/Tigress friendship, because I'm trying to keep her in character and if I wrote that ship, I'd only make things more difficult for myself. Not that it hasn't been done in other stories before. However, fluffiness will probably abound. There may however be a Mei Ling/OC. Anyways on with the story. **

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><p><strong>Chapter Two: Stealth is for the Light of Weight<strong>

China, Shenzou, "The Land of the Divine," home to the Valley of Peace, where the Furious Five and the Dragon Warrior work daily to keep the inhabits safe. From the Jade Palace, they watch over and protect the citizens, and are not afraid to risk their lives doing so. It was a day like any other for them, they had recently been announced the saviors of China again, after defeating Lord Shen at Gongmen City. Po had found inner peace, and they all had become closer and more understanding of each other. Completely unaware of the events unfolding miles away, everything seemed calm and serene. But there was still much to be learned for the Dragon Warrior, and waking up on time just happened to be one of those things Po hadn't mastered yet.

Once the morning bell rang throughout the barracks where they were sleeping, the rest of the masters immediately rose from their peaceful slumber, alert and ready for training, except for a certain panda, who was calmly dreaming of bean buns and rice cakes. Master Shifu went down the hall to make sure everyone was up. When he reached Po's door, he quickly became frustrated and yelled, "Panda, PANDA!" But the only reply he received was, "ZZzzzzzzzz, bean buns, so delicious, can't eat another bite zzzzzzzzzz, maybe just one more… zzzz."

Tigress inwardly groaned in annoyance, _this is the third time this week he's slept in! _She thought to herself. Monkey and Mantis both snickered while they wondered what Shifu would do to Po as punishment for his actions, or his lack thereof. Viper only sighed, hoping he wouldn't be too hard on Po, but that wasn't very likely. Crane didn't really care, since he was still groggy from yesterday's training session. Meanwhile, Shifu had had enough of Po's laziness for one day, and it was only morning. He opened the door to find Po still asleep on his stomach with one arm hanging off the bed, and drool hanging out of his mouth. However his keen eye also took notice of the crumbs still resting in his fur. "Stand back," he motioned to the Five, who were standing close by Po's room. Upon hearing this they backed away slowly, and watched as Shifu grabbed Po by the wrist and flipped him off the bed. Po landed on his face, hard. "That should wake him up," Mantis said, snickering.

"Aha-ow," Po groaned, "Since when do bean buns flip people off beds!" He looked up, and noticed Shifu and the Five standing over him with annoyed looks on their faces and their arms folded. "Hehehe, um, I guess I overslept?" Po managed a weak smile, knowing he probably wasn't going to be able to relax again anytime soon. "No breakfast for you, Po, the rest of you may go, you and Tigress come with me," Shifu turned and walked out, while Po rubbed his belly, "Don't worry stomach, we can skip a meal, we'll be juuuuuust fine-" his stomach growled loudly, "Oh, who am I kidding! Talk about cruel and unusual punishment, this is torture!"

"Po," Tigress rolled her eyes, and followed Shifu out, "I don't think that keeping you away from breakfast is all he's going to do."

"In that, you are right, Tigress," Shifu said continuing on the path to the main entrance of the Jade palace by the stairs. Po gulped and found that his mouth had suddenly gone dry. They didn't say another word until they reached the front of the palace, with the stairs leading down to the valley. "Po, you must have been really tired this week to not wake up to the bell on time. Tell me, how heavy were those cookies you had to lift from the kitchen?" Shifu turned to Po, waiting for an answer.

"Oh master, well you see it was um, no wait, I heard a noise and I- uh had to go investigate, palace safety comes first," Po said with a nervous chuckle.

"Well, there must have been many intruders, because the kitchen was a mess when I went there, do you have any idea how that came to be?" Shifu asked, nonchalantly.

"Nope, totally no idea," Po said, twiddling his fingers, and looking around.

"Well then, tell me, do you know what 'kung fu' means?"

"Completely awesome kick-butt fighting skills?" Po's face lit up.

"No, it means hard work, which I'm afraid you haven't learned the meaning of yet. In order to accomplish anything in life, you must not be afraid of work, and laziness is the exact opposite of that, which is why I'm making you go completely up and down these stairs seven times." Shifu replied.

Po's mouth dropped in horror, as he realized what Shifu just said. Tigress suppressed a smirk, and merely folded her arms. Shifu looked at the dumfounded panda and said, "Well, what are you waiting for? Go, we still have stealth training later, and I'm sure you don't want to miss that."

"Aw man," Po whined, turned to walk down the stairs and promptly tripped, falling all the way down the stairs, yelling in pain.

Shifu shook his head and turned to Tigress, "Watch him, make sure he doesn't wander off, once he's done, you may join the rest of us in the training hall, in the meantime, practice Sanchin, and anything else you want to work on, he'll be a while anyway."

"Yes, master," Tigress bowed and began to practice, while Shifu walked away.

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><p>Meanwhile, back at the kitchen, the rest of the Furious Five were trying to enjoy their breakfast without Po's company, Mantis and Monkey were speculating on what work Shifu would make Po go through, and Viper was quietly sipping her tea. Crane was busy trying to read a letter Zeng had delivered to him.<p>

"I bet twenty coins, that he has Po clean the training hall again," Monkey said,

"Oh, yeah? Well I bet 40 coins he has him go through an extra training session with Tigress," Mantis replied.

"Oh that's harsh, you know Tigress beats him in a spar every time," Monkey said.

"Well, are you in or out?" Mantis asked.

"You're on," Monkey said, "I'll even throw in my stash of almond cookies."

"Hopefully you won't be too sad to part with them when I win," Mantis smirked.

"You two are acting like children," Viper playfully scolded them.

"Hey, can't pass up an opportunity for free cookies, now can I?" Mantis laughed, "Besides, maybe I can let you use some of the coins to buy yourself a sense of humor."

Viper didn't make a reply, but instead used her tail to fling the half empty tea cup on Mantis, leaving him drenched in the hot liquid, with the teacup covering him. "Not funny Viper!" Mantis yelled, while trying to dry himself with a nearby rag. Monkey on the other hand couldn't stop laughing, and Viper just smiled and said, "Sorry, accident."

"Yeah, sure it was," Mantis said.

"Could you guys keep it down? I'm trying to read here," Crane asked.

"Would you mind telling us who it's from?" Mantis inquired, while he hopped over to where Crane was standing.

"Fine," Crane sighed, "It's from Mei Ling, she says she's coming to visit in a few weeks, and she's excited to be able to see me again and catch up with each other."

"Lucky guy, I wish girls would come visit me more often," Mantis said.

"Yeah, I wish they'd visit you more often too, Mantis. That way there's more chances of you getting your head eaten off," Monkey laughed and Mantis glared at him.

"Heh heh, just kidding," Monkey chuckled, "Now let's go before Master Shifu makes us do extra work too."

Back outside on the palace steps, Po had just finished climbing to the top of the stairs, where Tigress was finishing her kata. "How many more times do I have?" He panted and leaned over to massage his knees.

"Six more, that was your first time." Tigress replied, as she began to practice again.

"Are you serious? That felt like the hundreth time!" Po groaned and fell on his back, "Tai Lung and Shen weren't able to end me, and yet I feel like my heart's going to stop because of these stairs!"

"Po, we still have training later, it will be even worse for you if Shifu catches you messing around."

"Maybe you could just say that I did it seven-"

"Not going to happen," was her reply.

"Heh, I didn't think so," he turned and began the long walk down the stairs again.

Several cramps, aches, and pains later Po finally managed to finish the exercise by crawling up the stairs, when he reached the top, Tigress offered him her paw, and he took it greatfully. "You know, you could have avoided all this trouble if you would stop eating things that drain your energy like that," Tigress smirked.

"Hey, I can't help it if my stomach needs to train hard also. Its ' kung fu' is eating," Po replied.

"Master Shifu told me that he would be expecting us in the basement when you finished, and no kitchen detours, Po," Tigress turned and walked away.

"Seriously? Not cool," Po groaned and followed her.

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><p>Underneath the Jade palace was a very large basement. Also contained inside, besides the other storage rooms, was a large room which functioned both as a large sleeping quarters, as well as a training room. It was dark, save for the dim light of four torches. Shifu and the others were already there, talking about various techniques when Po and Tigress arrived. When Shifu saw them, he said, "Glad you could finally make it, Dragon Warrior, both of you have a seat."<p>

"Oh thanks, I'm dead tired," he walked over and plopped down in between Mantis and Monkey, who both whispered to him at the same time.

"Is he making you clean the training hall later?"

"Did he make you do extra training?"

"Nope, it was the stairs; up and down seven times," Po replied

"Ha! I win," said Mantis, "Steps count as extra training."

"No way, you said, 'extra training _with Tigress', _that hardly counts," Monkey said.

"Mantis, Monkey, pay attention! We're about to begin the stealth exercise," Shifu stated, an annoyed look appearing on his face, "You need to be able to master this technique in case you ever need it. I heard Gongmen City was a disaster as far as that area was concerned."

"Master-" Viper started, but was cut off by Shifu raising his hand.

"I understand why it happened, I would have done the same… though a little less…oddly. Never mind, anyway, I am trying to prepare you for tasks that could lie ahead. There is still much you have to learn, not only about kung fu, but about yourselves. This is more of a ninjitsu lesson however," Shifu answered.

"Ninjitsu? You mean like ninjas? Awesome!" Po got excited, "Do we get to wear black masks and sneak around and- ohoho, I should go get my throwing stars! I'll be right back," Po started to run off.

"Panda! Get back here, I'm not finished," Shifu ordered.

"Yes, Master Shifu," Po hurriedly returned to his seat.

"This exercise is to help you perfect the speed and agility side of the technique. Timing is also key. Each of you have strengths and weaknesses when it comes to this. Mantis is almost completely inconspicuous due to his size, especially in the dark."

"Who said being little was a disadvantage?" Mantis said.

"Monkey uses the environment to his advantage the best. Crane can swoop down from the air, when least expected. Tigress can sneak up from behind. Viper knows the right moment to strike, and when to wait patiently. Po… well, nevermind."

"Oh come on," Po said, "I have to be good at some sort of stealth technique."

"Very well, you provide a very adequate distraction for anyone else trying to sneak by," Shifu said.

"Thanks master Shifuuu-wait a minute!" Po said as he realized what the red panda meant.

"Nevermind, Po, we're going to begin now," Shifu walked to the middle of the room, and sat in seiza. He then pulled out a peach and held it in front of him. "The goal is to take the peach out of my hand, before I can react. If I can sense or hear you sneaking up on me, it's not going to work. I am confident most of you will be able to complete this challenge, although I believe Po will be at somewhat of a disadvantage compared to Viper or Mantis. Tigress, please extinguish the torches."

"Yes master," Tigress rushed over to each corner and quickly put out the lights. Afterward, Shifu lit a single candle, and placed it in front of him, so that the only light in the room was in a small circle around him. "How am I supposed to see now?" asked Po, awakwardly shuffling around in the dim light.

"Ow!" Yelled Viper, "You stepped on my tail, Po!"

"Sorry," said Po, sheepishly.

"Students, you may begin," said Shifu, closing his eyes and beginning to listen carefully. All of them moved silently around the room, with the exception of Po, who was still trying to get used to the even darker room. Viper slowly coiled on Shifu's left, waiting patiently to spring and snatch the peach in her jaws. Tigress got on all fours and crawled slowly behind Shifu, as she contemplated when the right moment to pounce would be. Mantis didn't really have to do anything, being as small as he was, he could blend in or hide almost anywhere he chose to. Monkey had climbed on one of the supporting rafters, hanging upside down a few feet above Shifu. Crane flew up near the ceiling by Monkey, also awaiting his moment to strike.

However, Po had decided to take a more direct approach to the problem. He tiptoed rather loudly to where he was just a few feet outside the circle of light in which Shifu sat. A few moments later, Po lunged at Shifu yelling, "Ninja sneak attack!"

Words could not express how hard Shifu mentally face-palmed, as he used Po's momentum to flip him over his back and into the unfortunate Tigress. Both Monkey and Mantis had to prevent themselves from laughing to avoid giving away their positions. Both Crane and Viper mentally cringed at his goof-up. A groan of pain and then a yelp could be heard in the darkness as Tigress pushed him off and said, "The point of a stealth attack is _not _to announce your presence, Po. Get it together, this isn't a game."

"Yeowww! Sorry, my body just isn't it built for stealth it's too-"

"Bodacious, we know. Just be more careful next time," Tigress replied slinking back to try and regain her cover in the darkness.

Meanwhile Viper had noticed Shifu's attention had temporarily focused on their conversation and chose that as the oppurtune moment to strike. Springing out of the shadows with all her speed and quickness, she managed to snatch the fruit in her mouth as she landed on the other side of him. "Well done, Viper," said Shifu. He picked up the candle, walked over to a pile of peaches, grabbed another one and sat back down again. "Viper has completed the exercise, she is free to go for the rest of the day, now I want to see the rest of you accomplish this task."

"Thank you master," Viper bowed out and exited the room. Once she had left, everyone got ready for the next attempt, while Po groped around in the dim light, looking for a corner to hide Shifu was sure they were ready to try again, he called out, "Begin."

Monkey chose to make his move the second time around. He hung down from the ceiling above Shifu, while using his tail to hold on to the rafters. Dropping swiftly he flipped in mid-air, grabbing the peach and landing in front of Shifu. The rest of the exercise went in a similar manner, except for Po, who couldn't seem to get it right. Gradually each of the remaining students completed the task. Mantis, Crane, and Tigress were all able to successfully take the fruit from Shifu's hand before he could counter; all except for Po. Each of Po's attempts had ended with either him on his back, or on his face. It didn't help that the Monkey and Mantis had both came back in the room to watch Po being thrown around. Since Shifu decided that was enough training for the day, he began to light the rest of the torches in the room. Po was still pretty bummed about being unable to get the jump on Shifu, but he had one last idea in mind. As Shifu lit the last lantern, Po tiptoed (about as quietly as a panda could), behind Shifu. Shifu heard, but pretended not to. What happened in the seconds that followed, was a sight to behold. Shifu flipped Po over his shoulder and Po crashed into the lantern knocking it over. "Owwww," groaned Po as he rubbed his head, "Not fair, I don't have eyes in the back of my head."

"Pffft, a deaf goat could have heard you coming, Po. You sound like a baby ox eating fortune cookies," Mantis shool his head, laughing.

"Hey Po, is Crane doing the cooking again? I smell something burning," said Monkey, supressing a snicker.

"Hahaha, did you smell something burning? I don't smell anything burning, nope not at al-YEEEOOWWW." Po screamed and ran out of the room, his pants burning. Fortunately the room didn't catch fire, thanks to Po catching fire instead. As they watched him leave, Mantis turned to Monkey and said, "Ten coins says he jumps in the Moon Pool to put out the fire."

"You're on," replied Monkey.

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><p>Later that evening, after eating a lot more than his own usual serving at dinner in order to make up for the skipped meal, Po decided to go take a walk to the training hall before dark. Thinking about nothing in particular, he meandered around until he finally reached the front of the building. He wasn't too surprised to find Tigress in front, practicing various punches and kicks on wooden dummies. He had to duck out of the way, when a spinning kick to a dummy's fake head sent it flying in his direction. Tigress had been completely focused on what she was doing. When she saw Po there and realized what happened she said, "Apologies, I give my complete attention to practicing whenever I can. I didn't see you there."<p>

"No um, that's cool. What exactly were you practicing anyway?" Po asked.

"Punching, kicking, nothing unusual. One thousand with each arm and leg," Tigress replied, casually.

Po's mouth dropped open as he looked at her in awe, "Are you serious? That's amazing, I can barely continue after a hundred."

Tigress frowned for a moment, "No I'm not, but it takes practice, commitment. You can't start out trying for the highest goal, Po. Making a short term one is sometimes the best idea, and gradually you can build on that to make it into a long one. Besides that, you've mastered far more complex moves then just a few punches, I'm pretty sure you could manage if you put your mind to it."

Po sighed, "Thanks, Tigress," he turned to walk away and leave her to finish, but her paw on his shoulder stopped him.

"The road to the goal is always long and hard, but it starts when you begin," Tigress shifted into her front attack stance.

"Heh heh," Po chuckled nervously, "Can I not get my butt kicked this time?"

Tigress sighed, "Fine no sparring tonight," She moved closer to him and shited into a ready stance instead. A puzzled look appeared on Po's face and he asked, "Uh what are we doing then?"

"Just do as I say, punch high, middle, low, then back up again," Tigress said, "I am ready."

Po complied with her answer and began. The two traded punches and blocks, stepping forward and backwards in a continuous pattern. After Po had finished punching, they switched and Tigress punched while Po blocked. Tigress punched hard and fast as Po tried to keep up, with her speed and power. Unfortunately he wasn't able to and missed a block, as Tigress punched him square in the jaw and he fell to the ground dazed and disoriented. "Po! I'm sorry for that, are you alright?" Tigress asked, as she reached her paw out to give him a lift up.

"Like being hit with a rock," Po muttered, "I'll be fine, I wonder if sparring would have turned out differently though," he rubbed his sore chin.

"Sparring would have been worse, haven't you figured that out by now?" Tigress smiled.

"I think anyone training with you is guaranteed to receive pain in some form or another," remarked Po, "I'm just glad you're actually our friend," he chuckled and took her hand, as he got back up to his feet.

"Thank you, Po," said Tigress.

"Uh oh, it's starting to get dark, we'd better get back to the barracks," said Po.

Tigress raised an eyebrow, "One more session before we go?"

"Ha," said Po, shifting into ready stance once more, "You're on."

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><p><strong>AN: Well, I thought that was a good place to end, so I'm cut things short there. I'm sorry this wasn't up Wednesday, I meant for it to be, but well, I –ahem- fell asleep at the computer. I had about 3 hours of sleep on Wednesday night, went to school, had piano practice, went to help my mom set up, had my first Jujutsu class. Yeah it's been busy for me, not to mention FFnet wouldn't let me log in grrrr. Anyways, enough of my rambling, hope this was satisfactory for you. I'm trying my best to make sure I keep these guys in character. As for where the story is going well, I probably will hop back over to Japan in the next chapter (it's essential for the plot trust me). Also, I will give a mention in the next chapter to the reader who can tell me what famous martial arts master's favorite kata I mentioned in this story. **


	3. Chapter Three: Consequences?

**A/N: This would have been updated sooner, but unfortunately I became sick all last week and was unable to write. Anyways, we're back to Japan again. A little more details on Kyofu will be shown here. Also I knew at least one of my readers would notice my feudal Japan "fluke" so to speak, but I did have a backstory prepared for that in the later chapters, so shout out to you, Soul of a Lion for noticing that. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Kung Fu Panda or any of its characters, any OC's are mine.**

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><p>It had been a week after the mission where their clan kidnapped a shogun's daughter and wife. Everything was successful, except Kyofu had received a beating for delaying them. It was a bad cycle for anyone to go through. If a ninja failed in some part, he was not beaten until a week later, when he was expected to do the same job again. They were allowed a short time in the medical tent to recover, due to the extreme pain of the beating received. That meant enduring whatever pain they had sustained in order to complete the assignment, often gaining more injuries while attempting again. Another failure meant death, usually as cruel as possible, perhaps by slow cuts, or at the hands of a loved one. It was designed to separate the weak from the strong. This was the reason he now lay in the medical tent at their clan's current base camp, located a few miles from a Japanese coastal merchant and fishing town.<p>

"Little brother, how do you always get yourself into these situations?" a small feline asked, as she bandaged Kyofu. His torso was covered with bruises from the beating he had received earlier.

"I'm not sure, maybe I'm just unlucky I guess," replied Kyofu. He and his sister Mizu were the only two inside the tent at the time, and he was only allowed one healer to see him while he had his mask off.

"I can't take care of you like this forever," she gazed down at him, shaking her head.

Mizu had always taken care of him. She was his older sister by five years. When they were young, they had been kidnapped by raiders on the Chinese coast, very close to Gongmen City. His parents were away at the time of the raid, and his sister had been told to watch him. They had almost been killed, but one of the men in the raid decided it would be better to take the children back to Japan. He'd only survived because she was there; they'd stuck together. Though they did not know it at the time, they were a small part of the plan that was beginning to unfold. His sister had told him about how they ended up in the ninja clan on occasion, and Kyofu recalled it to his memory.

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><p><em>They were slaves, sold to the master of a manor- reduced to peasantry. Mizu never complained about it, she was too young. As long as she could take care of her one year old brother, it was alright.<em>

_Mizu was busy cleaning the kitchen. The occupants had just finished dinner, and she was the only one on clean up duty. Her brother was somewhere in the next room, probably playing with a toy she made for him. The feline sighed and continued sweeping. Though she was very young, she could still remember vividly the life they had enjoyed before being kidnapped during a raid. Everything had been nice, she had chores, but they were easy jobs, not full maid detail. They had kind, loving parents. They had a lot of things, but all that was gone now… Now all they had was each other._

_Her master was elsewhere, more than likely drinking with his buddies. Suddenly Mizu heard a small cry. Recognizing her brother's voice, she dropped what she had been doing and rushed over to the next room. She was shocked to see him cowered in the corner, the master standing over him with a whip raised ready to strike._

"_Stop!" Mizu cried and rushed to stand in between Kyofu and the head of the household._

"_I found him idle, playing with toys of all things! This warrants a beating," Master Feng hiccupped and staggered back for a second._

_Mizu knew he was drunk, it happened often, but they were always away from him when it happened. Nobody wanted to be around when he was in a drunken state, and no one interfered._

"_He is too young to work, master. Do not beat him!" Mizu yelled, trying to grab the whip from his hand._

"_Silence!" Feng pushed her away and struck her in the face with the whip. Kyofu, not knowing what was going on, began to cry. Mizu could only stand back and watch, while clutching her left cheek and trying unsuccessfully to blink back the tears that formed in her eyes._

_Feng raised his hand to strike, but before he could, his arm was gripped by a lynx dressed in black. He turned around quickly, intent on destroying his new adversary, but was quickly thrown backwards on the ground. He looked up to see a pair of glowing feline eyes staring at him from underneath a mask. _

"_They are coming with me, Feng. Do not defy me or you will regret it deeply," the figure said._

"_They are mine! I bought them! They belong to me only, and I will do as I chose with them!" Feng struggled to get up._

"_They are yours no longer. I am taking the two now. I will not repeat myself again," he walked over to Mizu, who was trying to calm her crying brother, and asked, "Are you okay?"_

_When she nodded in reply, he noticed the mark of the blow was still on her cheek. Sighing, he helped her and her brother up and headed for the exit. The last thing Mizu heard of that place was Feng shouting death threats at them and using choice words._

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><p>They had been saved by the headmaster of the clan from a life of slavery. Twenty-two years later, things were almost the same, though he didn't mind it. In a sense, Mizu was the only "mother" in his life that he remembered. The headmaster did not keep much contact with them lately. He had other important matters to attend to. Kyofu had become her student after his own master was killed, which kept him closer to her than before. Mizu was the one of the few he trusted, and she was high ranked and respected in the clan for her ability with throwing knives and shuriken.<p>

"Everything is finally starting to take place, Mizu. When it's all over we'll be more than capable of watching out for ourselves," Kyofu tried to get up, but he was held back by her paw on his chest.

"Ah, the _real _plan," she sighed, "Kept hidden and slowly moving for years…the only greater secret is that of Lord Hakai himself," she replied.

"We're just finally close to finishing now. Once more, one more castle, one more job, and that's it," he said.

"That's what bothers me," Mizu rested her paw on the side of the mat, "It's bad luck for you to get stuck with the same thing twice. Honestly, Li, I smell a rat, a fat one by the name of Kasai."

"Don't let Kasai hear you call me that- actually don't let him hear that you called him a rat," Kyofu sighed, "You worry too much. I'll get through it. That mess up was my fault anyway," Kyofu said, shrugging his own worry about the situation.

Sighing, Mizu removed her mask to reveal her face. She was not the most gorgeous or perfect out of all the females in the camp, due to the scar running down her left cheekbone. If you were nothing but a pretty face, they could find other uses for you. However, she had received a fair amount of flirting from the samurai guards the clan kept close by. And they had each received a fair amount of injuries from her in return. Her dark green eyes had a kindness she showed only to Kyofu, but they could change in an instant to a steely gaze if provoked.

"Don't you think you might be… asking too many questions about this?" Kyofu asked.

"The only stupid question is the one you don't ask," she answered.

Kyofu merely raised an eyebrow in return.

"Let me rephrase that," she said, quickly.

"Too late," he laughed and yelped when she hit him lightly in the ribs. "It still hurts you know."

"Respect your master, young one," she teased.

"Anyway, it's almost time to go," he got up and began to put on his shirt and mask, while Mizu replaced her own and gathered his sword and other equipment. "Have you heard from my student yet?" he inquired.

"No, as far as I know she's still out there on her training exercise," Mizu shrugged.

"That's Kaia for you, always aiming to please," Kyofu shook his head, "Let's go."

"Right behind you," she replied.

They exited the medical tent and headed toward the middle of the camp to find most of their group preparing for the night or training with each other. Kasai noticed them and walked over. "Still smarting from that beating I see," Kasai smirked underneath the mask.

"I can give you one of your own if you like," Kyofu growled and started forward, but Mizu held him back.

"No, he's just baiting you. You'll need your energy for tonight," she glared at Kasai.

"I think I'd have enough to spare for knocking his teeth down his throat," Kyofu said.

"Hmmm, cocky now are we? Don't forget, Kyofu, I'm in charge here, if you continue to defy me, it won't end well for you… or your sister," he walked away.

"I don't like him," Kyofu muttered under his breath.

"And you think I want to marry him?" Mizu quipped, after hearing his comment.

* * *

><p>Two hours after sunset, the group began the run towards the new objective. Kyofu noticed the mood was much like the week before, but it was darker. Dark luminous clouds threatened to block out any existence of light. There were twice as many with them as before; this was rarely done unless Kasai considered the target a bigger threat than usual. They were headed back out, about a mile in from the coast, still staying in the cover of the forest. The castle itself was located on a cliff, like a bump compared to the smooth border of the land, overlooking the ocean to the west. It was tall with many windows, and the roofs were slanted and curved. No back or side entrances was there, because its south, east, and west walls were to the water. The walls surrounding it were too slippery to climb; they were moist with the sea mist. Sharp rocks jutted out of the water below like the teeth of a dragon. Guards were actively patrolling every area of the castle: the front gate, on the walls, and in the towers, that was only the outside. It was a designed deathtrap to all who tried to enter unwelcomed.<p>

As they approached the edge of the forest, the group halted and waited for Kasai to give a command. The castle stood no more than fifty yards away, and to make matters worse, it began to rain. Analyzing everything in sight carefully, he spoke what was on everyone's mind at the moment, "This could be difficult… It looks like they've doubled their security. Good, I like a challenge. But I'll need a bit of time to rethink our situation," he retreated back into the forest and sat down.

"I'm open to suggestions _if_ they're good," he knelt on the ground, thinking hard.

"Maybe you should explain the objectives again," Mizu suggested.

"All right fine, the target hostage is the son. Kyofu managed to grab that duty again. We'll be handling the shogun and his wife. The meeting point will be in their private chambers. Nothing about that has changed," Kasai said.

"We could always knock," said one ninja. He was just barely able to avoid having his head split open like a watermelon in the seconds that followed, as Kasai threw a knife directly at him.

"Next time, I won't miss," he hissed, "Anyone else got a bright idea?" he asked, sarcasm dripping from his voice.

"We could try the roof," said Kyofu.

"The spikes won't work and the walls are too slippery…unless... unless… archers, Kyofu, come with me," Kasai silently crept out of the forest and headed towards the cliff side by the east wall. The rest followed his lead, as he climbed down on the ledge carefully avoiding loose ground that threatened to give way underneath his feet. They were about thirty feet away from the wall, and twenty feet above a watery grave below. "Aim for the cracks in the wall," Kasai instructed, "Time your shots with crashing of the waves, so you don't attract any attention. Kyofu scale the wall, silence from then on. You know what to do. I will climb back up and instruct the others to do the same."

Kyofu shimmied along the cliff edge until he was close enough to touch the wall. The first arrow embedded itself in between the stones, and he carefully reached out and tested it to make sure it would stay anchored. Once he was sure that it was safe, he grabbed it and used it to support his full weight. He continued to climb as the arrows came. It was a slow, but steady process, and he finally reached the top. When he was able to grab on to the ledge, he peered over to find himself staring at the feet of a samurai leopard. The guard made the mistake of looking down at him, and Kyofu quickly pulled him over the wall. Before the guard could scream, Kyofu heard the faint _thwip _of an arrow, and knew immediately that the guard was dead. _The fall would have been worse anyway, _Kyofu mused. Quickly recovering, he pulled himself up on the ledge and jumped on the other side onto the roof, then into a window, before one of the other guards could take notice. Luckily for him the room was empty, save for some flour sacks, and he was able to take a short minute to examine the outside hall before he decided to continue.

Cautiously, he peered out into the hall. The first thing he noticed was that it was very bright. Lanterns were mounted on the wall every few feet, eliminating any chance of hiding in the shadows. It wasn't a very large hallway either- it was narrow. _Could make sword combat difficult, _Kyofu decided. He was unfamiliar with the inside of the castle, and he needed to find out where the targets sleeping quarters were. Hearing footsteps approaching he ducked back into the room and waited for the sound to get louder. Once he knew the person was passing his hiding place, he reached out quickly and grabbed the guard. Tackling him to the ground, he drew a small knife and held it to the guard's throat. "One scream and it will be your last," he whispered, "Tell me the location of the child's room now."

"Third floor, there's a giant door, it's impossible to miss," the guard said, the fear showing in his voice.

"Thank you," Kyofu knocked the guard out with a strike to the jaw. He then dragged the unconscious leopard over to the flour sacs and hid the guard underneath them. After checking the hallway once more to make sure the coast was clear, he ran towards the end looking for a set of stairs to lead him up to the third floor. Everything seemed to be going fine, but all of a sudden Kyofu heard a voice that caused the blood in his veins to run cold: "Sound the alert!"

The quiet atmosphere was suddenly reduced to shouting and yelling. And his frustration only grew when he saw more guards charging towards him from the end of the hallway, blocking the entrance to the tower containing the stairs. They were armed with short sticks rather than swords due to the enclosed space they were fighting in.

As they reached Kyofu, one of them struck downward with the weapon. Kyofu grabbed the guard's wrist, with his left hand, and punched the guard in the face, causing him to lose the weapon. He caught in in midair and advanced to the next guard, blocking the sideways blow with the newly acquired weapon and spinning to strike him with the end of the stick. With two out of the four guards down, the remaining opted for a simultaneous downward strike. Kyofu ducked and slid underneath their legs. As they turned around, he delivered a double kick to their faces knocking them on their backs, unconscious. The path to the stairs now cleared, he ran towards the entrance and began the climb up.

Figuring he had been on the second floor at the time of the fight, he only had to go up one level before he reached his goal. As he turned the corner to exit the stair tower, he collided with another black figure heading the opposite direction. They fell on the ground with Kyofu landing on top ready to strike, before the individual called out, "Wait-don't hit me!"

"Who are you?" he asked, still hesitant to put his fist down.

"Kyofu it's me, Kaia," she said, "You know, your student?"

"Sorry, I didn't recognize- you could have been a guard. Anyway how'd you get here?" Kyofu got off and helped her up.

"Eh, I was already on my way back to the camp when I saw you guys. So I just decided to join in on the way," the lynx shrugged.

"Could have told me and saved some trouble. Anyway, what happened?" Kyofu asked.

"All heck broke lose. Someone triggered an alarm of some sort, the rest of our group is on the first floor providing a distraction, while we carry on with the job," Kaia said.

"The guards I fought must have been heading there and saw me…" Kyofu figured.

"Yeah well, there's still a ton of them up here guarding the kid. The alert also doubled the security detail. I was just trying to return to cover when I ran into you," Kaia said in reply.

"Looks like the hard away again," he sighed, "You ready?"

"Two of us versus an entire floor of guards? Sounds like a disadvantage for them," she stretched her arms out.

The third floor was different in its design than the others. It consisted of a hallway surrounding what looked to be one large room. The two ninjas walked towards the door, and opened it. The room appeared to be divided in half because twenty other guards stood between them and another door, probably the actual entrance to the child's room. Kyofu readied his katana while Kaia pulled her sais out. The guards across the room drew their various weapons and charged.

Both Kaia and Kyofu worked together to take down the guards. Kyofu became surrounded by samurai, punching him and trying to bring him to the ground. His ribs were giving him trouble again. Kaia grabbed a defender in front of her, and flipped him backwards, knocking him unconscious. Seeing Kyofu needed help, she ran over to where he was struggling with his adversaries and performed a flying kick on one of them. With the grip on his wrist now loosened, Kyofu elbowed the guard behind him in the gut, struck the one on his left in the face, and stepped back away from the third before giving him a side kick to the chest.

Ten were down, ten more to go. Kaia used her sais skillfully to disarm and flip several guards off balance. Kyofu had sheathed his sword and was using hand to hand combat instead. Sensing one guard coming up behind him and seeing another one charging from the front, Kyofu shifted his body to the side as the other guard threw a punch. The guard in the rear had not seen the one in the front, for Kyofu had been counting on the blocked vision. Thus the enemy that had charged him accidentally punched the other in the face when Kyofu sidestepped the punch. Before his foe could recover from the shock of hitting his own teammate, Kyofu responded with a strike to the throat using the side of his paw.

The few remaining guards were finished easily; the ones that were still barely conscious had crawled away to lick their wounds. They both started forward, but they were stopped when the door opened and out walked a large tiger, bigger than any of the previous enemies. He was not dressed in armor, but instead wore a simple robe and pants. Kyofu and Kaia looked at each other and nodded. Kaia advanced on him first while Kyofu stood back. The tiger towered over her. He was built, but moved slowly. He put his fists up boxer style and swung heavily at Kaia. She blocked the first two punches, but the guard threw and elbow to her face knocking her down.

She got up quickly and retaliated with a kick, but the guard caught it, twisted her off balance, and responded with a kick of his own. However, before she could regain her balance, the guard kneed her in the gut, and gave another heavy elbow to the face.

Kyofu tried to join in to help Kaia out, but the tiger grabbed her and threw Kaia into him. Kaia was knocked unconscious, and Kyofu pushed her off slowly. He got up and studied the guard's tactics as he moved in once more.

When the guard threw a heavy punch, Kyofu ducked and threw a punch at his side. His enemy staggered back for a second, but again pressed his attack, opting for brute force rather than agility.

This time when the strike came, Kyofu caught it and pushed the elbow inwards. The guard turned his back to keep his arm from being broken, but Kyofu jumped and executed a double kick to the tiger. This caused him to stumble forwards into the wall. The tiger's head hit first, incapacitating him.

Kyofu sighed and ran over to where Kaia was lying. Shaking her awake, he asked, "Are you okay?"

"If getting my tail kicked by ten foot tall tiger counts as okay, then yes I'm perfectly fine," she rubbed her bleeding lip and massaged her bruised back.

"Never mind that; we still need the kid," Kyofu helped her over to the door.

"He slept through all that! I wish I could do that…" Kaia mused, as they opened the door to find the cub still sleeping in his bed.

"You do every time I try to teach you a lesson. Now focus, you get to carry him, since I don't do so well with kids," Kyofu pointed out.

The leopardess sighed and reached over to pick the sleeping child up. "I'll go on ahead to the first floor," Kaia said, "Make sure no one can come up from behind us," she carried the cub somewhat awkwardly, but managed to make it to the staircase and headed down.

After she had gone, Kyofu explored the rest of the third floor for a few minutes to make sure no other guards were around or conscious and went back down the stairs to the first floor.

The first floor was almost identical to the third floor, including the occupants. When he opened the main chamber door he saw both bodies of samurai guards and a few scattered members of his clan on the ground. He shook his head and ran to the door. He figured Kaia had already made it in and opened the door. The room was dark and quiet. Puzzled, he looked around quickly for any sign of movement. There was none. Kaia had disappeared also. An immediate alert went off in his head, and he whirled around to find a fist colliding with his face. The last thing he wondered before he was plunged into darkness was why he even got himself into these situations.

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><p><strong>AN: Cliffhanger anyone? I may or may not be able to post again soon. I'm moving to a different house and stuff -_- This chapter ended up being a real curveball for me. I actually had time to rethink it while I was sick, and I went back and changed a few things. Anyway though, I appreciate all the feedback I've been getting, keep it up guys. I feel like I'm getting a little better with this as we go along. **


	4. Chapter Four: Visionary

**A/N: Yes, yes I took so long to update, I'm sorry. I'm also sad to see Soul of a Lion leave, definitely going to miss you. I'm moved in now. Our house is still full of boxes that need unpacking however. I'm trying to update on a weekly basis (sometimes twice a week), but I spend a lot of time thinking through each chapter, outlining things, editing etc. I have a very busy life. But about this chapter there's uh, not much to say. For any TigressxPo fans out there whose interest absolutely dwindled after the second chapter, well, there's friendship fluffiness I suppose. **

**Disclaimer: I do not claim dis franchise; it belongs to DreamWorks.**

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><p>There was something about waking up at the crack of dawn that made her feel good. Tigress just felt it to be so. The sun gave energy, life, warmth, and feeling the first rays of light seep through the barracks removed the sleepiness from her tired body every morning. She didn't know why, but it happened that way. Every day was a new lesson to be learned, a new challenge to conquer- another butt-kicking for Po. Thinking of that made her smile a little. Po could more than handle his own, but she was always there to knock him back down to 'level zero' if she felt like it. But usually that only happened in a sparring match since they were close friends. All these thoughts rolled around in the feline's head as she lay on her bed just thinking. It was perhaps half an hour before sunrise, still fairly dark, but Tigress could wake up at any time without it really bothering her. She could function equally as well at night, and the night was just as beautiful as the sunrise in a more subtle way.<p>

The same could be said for most of the others still calmly sleeping in their rooms, perhaps with the exception of Po. Tigress wasn't sure if he was really an 'anything' type of guy. _Unless breakfast counts, _she was slightly amused by the thought. Sighing, she got up and stretched herself, before sitting cross-legged on the ground to meditate during the few short minutes until the morning bell rang. The last week was spent mastering other stealth techniques Shifu wanted them to learn, though it was mostly Po who he was working with, due to his affinity for being noticeable.

She had been dreaming. Though about what, she could not remember. Tigress dismissed it in her mind, but she felt like it had something to do with herself, her own destiny. _The path to abandonment starts with one's own fears… _she pondered the only phrase she remembered from the dream carefully. _But what is it we abandon?_ Her thoughts were interrupted by the morning gong, and she placed the thoughts in the back of her mind and opened her door to await Shifu's role call.

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><p>"Good morning master," both the Furious Five and Po called out, standing at attention in front of their respective rooms.<p>

"Good morning students. Well Po, I see you managed to wake up on time for the third time in a row, congratulations," Shifu said, with a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

"I'm never going to hear the end of this, am I?" Po gave an exasperated sigh.

"If I had to guess, I'd say… probably not until you save China again, buddy." Mantis hopped on Po's shoulder.

"That could be ages from now!" Po threw his arms up in mock frustration.

Shifu took on a more serious look, "Don't be so sure of that Dragon Warrior- all of you. We _must _be prepared for whatever may come. That is why we have started training differently in the last week. Every one of you has the ability to make the others stronger in some way," Shifu seemed to be deep in thought, "You may head to breakfast. I will be waiting for you in the front of the training hall as usual," the red panda walked away slowly.

"Wonder what's eating him," Mantis looked at Po, and Po just shrugged.

"I don't know, but I do know what I'm eating," Po started to drool as he headed to the kitchen.

"Yeah, two words," said Monkey, "A lot."

The five shared a good natured laugh as they walked out, but Tigress was deep in thought about what Shifu had said.

Seeing her friend still standing in front of her room, Viper slithered back over to Tigress and asked, "Hey, are you coming?"

"I'll join you later," Tigress replied, "Right now I need to take care of something."

"Okay then," Viper gave her a slightly concerned look, but turned around and went out to join the others.

After she left, Tigress stood in the hallway for a minute before turning and leaving in the direction Shifu had gone. She followed the path outside leading to the Sacred Peach Tree of Wisdom and saw Shifu just sitting there, gazing off into the distance. He was saying something, but from where she was standing Tigress couldn't hear clearly. Her curiosity piqued, she dropped on all fours and edged closer behind a rock, until she was within earshot.

"If only you could still be here, Master… You would know what to do. I cannot be sure of what a dream or revelation means if I cannot remember it." Shifu sighed.

_So it wasn't just me, _Tigress let out a small gasp of surprise upon hearing that, and Shifu's ears immediately perked up at the sound.

"Whoever is there, show yourself now," Shifu said with an alarmed but commanding tone in his voice.

Tigress stood and came out from behind the rock. "My apologies master, I did not mean-" she was cut off by Shifu's upraised hand.

"If you wished to speak with me," he motioned to his side, "You could have asked," he gave a knowing smile as Tigress walked up to him.

Tigress went straight to the point. "Master, you said you had dreams you could not remember… I have dreams also," Tigress said.

"You have?" Shifu raised an eyebrow, "This could mean something. It may be a vision of the future, or a warning."

Tigress nodded and said, "But I only remember hearing one thing: 'The path to abandonment starts with one's own fears'."

Shifu's ears twitched in disappointment and he pondered it for a second before answering, "I believe the answers will come soon if you are not the only one experiencing this. The sentence you remember is certainly part of it. What are you afraid of?"

"I fear nothing, master," she stood up straight and folded her hands behind her back.

"We all have fears, Tigress," Shifu looked away, "I was afraid more often than you would know…"

Tigress sighed in defeat. _The great Master Tigress afraid? Never! _And yet she was… Not of any enemy or thug, but finding out what her true destiny was, of losing the friends she would give her life for. "Afraid of not making you proud…" She half whispered, but Shifu heard it.

"Tigress, a master is judged by his students. I thought I had failed with Tai Lung… I thought I would fail with Po, but you six- every one of you makes me proud. I could not have asked for better students. I would have greatly disagreed when I first saw Po," he shuddered. "But Oogway was right. And," Shifu paused, "I could not have asked for a better daughter."

_Daughter? _The word rolled around in Tigress's head before she felt Shifu's hand on her arm. She looked down to see him smiling at her, something he rarely did a few months ago. Emotion took over and she hugged him. He was taken back for a second, but he returned it, warmly.

"Thank you, father," it had been a long time since she'd called him that. Tigress couldn't remember, but she was happy, for the moment.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, back in the kitchen, Po, Monkey and Mantis were up to no good. Viper and Crane were sitting at the table just idly chatting, and the other three were in the second kitchenpantry room cooking up something devious. Actually, it was Po doing the cooking, Monkey and Mantis were just egging him on.

"What are you going to put in there, Po?" asked Monkey, peering over the panda's shoulder as he mixed something in a pot.

"Nothing out of the ordinary, the 'items' I'm really using are over there," Po chuckled as he dropped a rather large portion of sugar into the rice porridge.

"Who's the unlucky victim this time, Crane or Viper?" Mantis questioned.

"Crane," he said quickly, "Now be quiet or he'll hear you," Po hushed him and continued cooking.

"What's in those steamed buns?" Monkey reached out to grab one, but Po stopped him.

"Ink, they explode ink in people's faces now will you please be quiet?" Po was getting annoyed.

"I don't think he likes calligraphy that much," Mantis snickered.

"How are you going to get him to eat one if he sees you don't?" It was Monkey's turn to ask now.

Po sighed in defeat, "Okay, all the other steamed buns don't have ink in them. I've got a ton of them to use, and I hid the other ones where no one would suspect. I made sure to mark which one does so when he eats it, boom! It explodes and he gets ink all over his beak."

"Yeah but if you filled a dumpling with ink, wouldn't we be smart enough not to eat anything else you've cooked this morning?" Mantis pointed out.

Po smacked his forehead with his paw. "I got this, guys. You can trust me right?"

"Sure coming from a guy who tried to-"

"Don't bring that up again!" Po cut Mantis off, mentally wincing at the memory of the stomach pains from the boiled water and raw rice.

Monkey covered his mouth to suppress a laugh. Po finally decided the food was ready to bring out, and he carried the pot back into the other room where Viper and Crane sat waiting.

"What took so long?" Crane asked.

"Sorry, I had to add a few extra ingredients," Po set several bowls down on the table and poured the porridge into each.

"Well, I'm sure it will be delicious, Po," Viper smiled.

"Ha ha, yeah- Oh, I forgot the baozi, I'll be right back," Po quickly rushed into the other room, grabbing a few plates to set them down on. As he went back he noticed Monkey and Mantis still standing there looking oddly at each other as if trying not to laugh, which they were.

"Hey, are you two coming? You don't want to miss the fun," Po said in a sing-song voice.

"Oh yeah, just a sec," Monkey leaned down to Mantis as they went out, "Think we should tell him?"

"Nah, the big guy will figure it out," Mantis snorted.

When they came in, Po was sitting at his chair, innocently twiddling his thumbs while glancing at Crane every few seconds. Since he Crane was primarily concentrating on the porridge, Po decided to take matters into his own hands.

"Hey Crane, are you going to finish that?" Po reached over to grab the baozi, but Crane moved his wing in front of him.

"I'm not finished yet, Po," he replied and went back to eating.

"Oh come on, those are sooo good," Po pretended like he really wanted to eat it.

"Don't you have more in the kitchen?" Crane asked.

"Um, I think Viper ate them all," Po answered.

"Hey!" Viper protested.

"Actually never mind, I'll just um, eat my porridge," Po sat back down, nervously and began gulping from the bowl as if it were a cup.

_Gee, I wonder what's gotten into him, _Crane thought as he finished swallowing. Deciding he might as well eat the steamed bun before Po attempted again to take it, he reached down to grab it in his beak and- _SPLAT! _His face was covered in jet black ink.

Monkey and Mantis both burst out laughing, and Viper tried hard to contain her own amusement for the sake of her friend. Po raised his fists into the air triumphantly and shouted, "Yes! Score one for the Dragon Warrior!"

"Ha, ha, very funny, Po," Crane remarked, wiping the ink of his face. His beak was now completely black, though it would probably wash off in time. The others were still laughing.

"Yeah, you totally fell for it," Po said, quite pleased with himself. He reached down to pick up the bun on his own plate with the chopsticks, and as soon as it was a few inches away from his mouth- _SPLAT! _His own face was covered in the murky substance. Surprised, he blinked a few times, making him look like a raccoon caught in the light.

Monkey and Mantis stared wide-eyed and then doubled over with laughter, falling out of their chairs in the process. Viper was able to quell her reaction the first time, but the second was too much, and she too, burst out laughing.

"A- ha- you fell for it, Po," Monkey said, wiping the tears from his eyes, "You didn't notice how many of them you marked," he squeezed out before he fell back down laughing.

"What's going on in here?" A voice came from the doorway.

"Oh, Master Shifu," Po turned to see the red panda and Tigress standing there looking at the two ink covered faces in front of them and the laughing trio sitting behind.

Tigress felt the corners of her mouth start to turn upward in an almost involuntary smile.

"Weren't you… supposed to be at the training hall?" Po chuckled nervously.

"I was, I came back to check something when I heard the commotion," he laughed mischievously, "I see both you and Crane took my stealth advice very seriously. Very well, training starts now, follow me."

Crane shot Po a murderous glance, and Po whistled innocently.

* * *

><p>When they reached the training hall, Po's excitement grew at the sight of various martial arts weapons all stacked up neatly on either side of the area. Guns (bamboo staffs), many different kinds of swords, Dao spears, they were all there, waiting to be used.<p>

"Ohhh, we get to use these? Awesome!" Po exclaimed and ran over to one of the racks.

"Not yet, Po!" Shifu's voice cut the over eager panda's actions short and he motioned over to another rack, containing bamboo practice swords, "You will be sparring with our training equipment before we move on to the real thing, unless I say otherwise," a smug smile appeared on Shifu's face.

Po looked disappointed for a short second before his enthusiasm came back again. Shifu turned to face the six as they lined up and said, "In Kung Fu, anything can be a weapon. Do not restrict yourself to thinking that those over there are the only _real _weapons," he looked at Viper, Crane and Mantis, "Your size and anatomy would prevent you from using these like Tigress would," Shifu set Oogway's staff aside and grabbed a staff. He began spinning it expertly around his body striking invisible foes while never losing focus.

"While you may not be able to handle the staff or sword without it feeling foreign, you can use whatever is lying around to your advantage, knives, pottery, even your enemies can be used against each other," Shifu reached into his robe and pulled out a bamboo flute.

"Po, attack me," the mischievous smile appeared on his face once again.

"Master Shifu, are you sure? I mean you know it's um-" Po cocked his head to one side.

"Oh I see, you don't want to do it unarmed, here," Shifu motioned to the weapon rack, "Grab a sword."

Po looked curiously at Shifu as the red panda sat down cross-legged and held it up to his mouth, playing a calm tune. Shaking his head, Po grabbed a sword and prepared to fight Shifu.

"Oh, and Dragon Warrior?" Po stopped his advance as Shifu addressed him, "I'm saying 'otherwise'. Begin."

"Get ready to feel the thunder! What- whoa!" Po rushed Shifu and the next thing he knew: he was on the ground. It was much like the first day of training Po spent at the Jade Palace. Shifu had him pinned on the ground, but instead of holding him with his bare hands, Shifu was holding the flute to his chin.

"Whoa, Master Shifu, how'd you do that? I thought you know, it's a flute and- that was awesome. Does that mean I can use pots and pans as weapons too? I'd never have to worry about not having anything to cook with again and-"

"Focus, Po," Shifu brought the panda out of his rambling, "As I stated earlier, any and everything you can use to your advantage. But these," Shifu picked up the sword lying on the ground, "These are material. The mind gives an even greater advantage than relying purely on force. There is more to what I'm saying than just that which I will explain at another time, but right now pair up for sparring. Monkey, Po, you two are up first."

Both of them looked at each other for a second before grabbing a staff and getting in their ready stances. The rest cleared out of the way while Shifu stood to the side.

"Ready to lose, Po?" Monkey smirked as he spun the staff expertly in his hands.

"Not today," the panda laughed in reply.

"Begin," Shifu said.

Po rushed Monkey, striking downwards with the stick. Being as agile as he was, Monkey was able to somersault out of the way easily.

"You're going to have to do better than that, Po!" Monkey replied, mounting his own attack. He swung with the weapon swiftly spinning it in order to confuse Po about the angle at which the attack was coming.

Po was able to block several of the assaults successfully, but Monkey still ended up whacking him in the midsection while Po's arms were raised.

Po leaned over and held up a paw, "Just a second, I need- to catch- my breath-hiya!" Po caught Monkey off-guard and knocked the staff out of his grip. The primate looked shocked for a second, but back flipped to where the bamboo rod was lying on the ground. Grabbing it in stride, he used his tail to keep his balance and land on his feet.

"Ha!" Po chuckled, "You can't compete with the awesome power of bodaciousness!" As Monkey rushed him the second time, Po blocked upwards and spun around hitting him with the back and knocking him to the ground.

"Yes! I win," Po raised his arms in victory.

"Next time I won't go easy, Po," Monkey said as he was being helped up.

"Well done, Po, if you were trying to be clumsy with the staff," Shifu said, half-jokingly.

"Ugh, who am I going to spar with next?" Po groaned in minor annoyance.

"Tigress."

Po could hear the somewhat evil sense of humor behind Shifu's words. Crane patted him on the shoulder with his wing. "Nice knowing you, Po."

"Oh crud," Po muttered under his breath.

The tiger quickly got into position, opting to use her paws only, instead of a weapon. Po nervously clutched the staff. He felt his hands beginning to sweat. Shifu glanced at Tigress and gave a small nod. "Begin," he said.

The "fight" was over before it even started. Within just a few short seconds, Tigress had disarmed Po, flipped him off-balance and thrown him to the ground, standing to the side with the front end of the stick in front of his face.

"I give up," Po said, helplessly.

"I thought you said a true warrior never quits," Tigress smirked.

"Consider it a time out then," Po retorted, as the feline got off and helped him up. Shifu merely shook his head as he watched the duo.

* * *

><p>The rest of the day was spent training and sparring against each other. All of them traded and switched of partners trying both empty-handed spars and using weapons. Viper was able to practice throwing knives by using her tail, since there wasn't much she could do with larger weapons. Mantis disarmed people quickly because they weren't expecting him.<p>

After the training session was over, the Five and Po were cleaning up while Shifu was back inside the palace.

"So, Tigress," Viper questioned, "What was it that you had to take care of earlier, if you don't mind me asking?"

Tigress hesitated for a second before answering, "I wanted to talk to Master Shifu. I had questions that needed answers."

"Like why we're doing all this different training all of a sudden?" Po asked.

"No, different, but I think that's part of it. I've been dreaming, but I can't remember otherwise I would know what it's about. I sense it's important, and I found Shifu had the same problem."

"Maybe Oogway told him something," Crane offered.

"He was by the Peach Tree of Wisdom when I found him," Tigress replied.

"Sounds like a job for the Dragon Warrior and the Furious Five!" Po said, adventurously.

"Shouldn't that wait until _after_ we find out what's going on? For all we know, it could just be a bad batch of tofu," Monkey laughed.

"We'll find out sooner or later," Tigress stated.

As if answering her, Shifu appeared in front of them again. "Students," he called out, "Return to the palace quickly! It's important."

Shifu then rushed back without another word.

"Man, Tigress, have you considered becoming a soothsayer?" Po questioned, as all six of them ran to follow Shifu.

They were surprised when they entered to find Shifu and the soothsayer communicating inside. When the red panda saw them he called out, "Tigress this it, I understand now."

"Understand what, master?" Tigress sounded confused.

"The dreams you had were not just dreams, but revelations, visions that I myself have seen and sent to you to warn you of the coming danger." The goat replied.

"Whoa, coooool," Po then realized that this was part of the reason for the different approach Shifu had taken to their instruction recently.

"Can it be prevented? What is this danger? Why don't we remember the vision?" Shifu threw a barrage of questions at her.

"I do not have the answer for most of those sadly," the soothsayer replied, "It's as if something is preventing me from getting a clear prediction."

"What do you know then?" Crane asked.

"The dangers you all will face in the near future could threaten all of China," the goat answered.

"Now's the time for it, Po," Viper whispered.

"Huh, oh yeah, this sounds like a job for the Dragon Warrior and the Furious Five. We're going to do all we can to protect the Valley, but uh, how do we protect against nothing? You know unless the dreams decide they want to- hey!" Po pulled his pant leg away from the goat who was grasping it, ready to take a bite.

"Sir-"

"Po!" Viper tapped him in the back with her tail.

"I'm sorry okay! Every time- that beard it's just hold on, let me get a knife I'll be right ba-"

"Po!" Shifu's voice cut him off again, "Pay attention, this is serious."

"He still has a valid question though, _what are we going to fight against?_" Crane pointed out.

"Sometimes trouble will find those not seeking it," the soothsayer turned to head toward the door, "Remember this: the path to abandonment begins with one's fears." And with that, she was gone.

"Wait!" Tigress started forward, but Shifu held his staff out in front of her.

"Let it go Tigress, I believe that whatever this path is, it is determined by ourselves," Shifu observed. _I still don't know exactly what that means for us, but I'm going to find out, _Tigress thought.

Later that night after everyone was preparing for bed, Crane met Po in the hallway. "So, no hard feelings for earlier, buddy?" Po inquired, nervously.

"No," Crane sighed, "I am curious though, did you have any more of those ink filled buns?"

"Oh yeah, I've got a lot more ready for use," Po gave a short laugh.

"And where did you hide them?" Crane raised an eyebrow.

Po's eyes widened with realization seconds before a giant _SPLAT _was heard. The last thing Po heard before making a break for the stairs and then the town below was Shifu yelling, "PANDA!"

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Again, sorry for the delay. I had to pull it out of my hat for this one (I'm posting it at 2 in the morn for goodness sakes) I know I used a similar format for this section involving the KFP group as the last chapter, but bear with me. Now things can start heating up. I know I left a horrible cliffhanger, but I'm going to try post again within a week. I'm on spring break now so it shouldn't be too hard.**

**Thanks to anyone who reads *AND* reviews my story, it means a lot to me.**


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